Chapter Eight: pig in the bedroom
Wang's dwelling was further from the main settlement than Lin Wan expected, and honestly, she was not complaining.
The further the better. The last thing she needed right now was nosy neighbours finding out she was not from around here. What if they called her a demon and tried to burn her like in those witch movies she watched growing up. Being far from everyone was the safest option.
The cave was built into the hillside, the entrance low enough that Lin Wan had to duck her head to get through. Inside, the air was cool and still. It smelled like stone and smoke and something else she was already starting to recognise as just Wang.
Lin Wan straightened up and looked around.
Stone walls. Stone floor. A low platform along one wall with hides piled on top of it. A rough shelf cut into the rock with a few items she could not identify yet. A hook near the entrance with another hide hanging from it.
Simple. Nothing extra. Nothing unnecessary.
It suited him.
Wang placed Lin Wan's tote bag on the shelf without being asked. Like he understood it mattered to her even if he had no idea what a tote bag was. Then he turned to her.
"Do you need anything," Wang said.
"Water," Lin Wan said. "And food. Please."
Wang nodded. He lifted the hide from the hook near the entrance and settled it around Lin Wan's shoulders, making sure it covered her properly. Then he walked out.
Lin Wan stood alone in the cave.
She stood there for a moment and just breathed.
Then she started looking around the cave dwelling, she had never been in a cave so she couldn't tell if this was how it was supposed to look, but it still showed it was someone's home, although with some necessity lacking here and there,
Later, she'll have Wang take care of that.
She kept glancing around, trying to assimilate everything she saw into her brain, as this was going to be her home from now on.
She pressed her hand against the bed. The stone underneath was hard but the hides on top made it bearable. She ran her fingers along the wall, smooth in some places, rough in others. Someone had put effort into this space. Not too much, but it was enough.
As she walked deeper into the cave, the innermost part of the cave, the shadows got deeper, she could barely see everything clearly for awhile, until her eyes got used to the darkness, that was when she was able to see slightly better.
Lin Wan walked in deeper, and that was when the smell hit her hard.
Heavy and putrid, the unmistakable smell of dead animal. Lin Wan followed the scent to a shadowed alcove near the back wall and looked inside.
A white wild boar. Large. Very dead. Lying on its side with flies circling lazily above it.
Lin Wan stood very still.
She looked at the boar.
The boar did not look back, for obvious reasons.
"Weiwei," Lin Wan said.
[Yes Host!]
"There is a dead pig in the bedroom."
[That is stored food Host! Hunting large prey and storing it close to the dwelling before eating it is completely standard practice among beastmen! It means Wang is a well prepared provider! Host should consider this a good sign!]
"There is a dead pig," Lin Wan said again. "In the bedroom."
A short pause.
[Yes,] Weiwei said. [That is correct.]
Lin Wan looked at the boar.
The boar continued to be dead and unhelpful.
Lin Wan walked to the far end of the cave, sat on the edge of the hide platform with her back to the alcove, pulled the hide tighter around her shoulders and stared at the entrance.
She had survived a breakup, a two hour walk in the hot sun, a phantom beast attack, getting bitten on the neck by a stranger, a whole tribe of leopard beastmen, and screaming at a leopard named Duan who was off duty.
She could survive a dead pig in the bedroom.
Probably.
Footsteps came from outside.
Not Wang's. Wang's footsteps were heavier, more deliberate. Lin Wan had already learned the difference without trying to. These were lighter. Careful. Like whoever it was did not want to be heard.
They stopped just outside the entrance.
Silence.
Lin Wan sat still on the platform and looked at the entrance and did not make a sound. She waited for whoever it was to come in or say something.
They did neither.
They just stood there, on the other side of the entrance, quiet and listening.
Then after a long moment the footsteps moved away, back toward the settlement, until Lin Wan could not hear them anymore.
Lin Wan let out a quiet breath.
Who was that.